Electromagnetic transmission facilities (e.g., television, radio, cellular telephone, and the like) are often situated in geographically remote locations due to various technical and political reasons. As such, the source (e.g., a studio or control center) of a signal or signals to be transmitted may be many miles away from the transmission facility. A studio to transmitter link (STL) is used to deliver signals from the source to the transmission facility.
The STL may be implemented using, e.g., microwave, optical fiber, subscriber networks or other technologies depending upon, e.g., the type of signals being delivered via the STL and the amount of information contained in those signals. The technology employed by the STL may use some type of error correction to help correct errors which may occur. In multilayered STL systems, where several communication technology systems are used, multiple error correction schemes may be employed. In addition, the STL may be implemented using redundant channels to protect against a catastrophic failure of a single channel. However, the use of multilayered systems or redundant channels increases the cost and complexity of the STL.
A new television standard, the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) Digital Television Standard (ATSC A/53 Specification), has been proposed, tested and recommended for use in the United States. This standard is a constrained subset of the ISO/IEC International Standards 13818-1 specification for "Generic Coding of Moving Pictures and Associated Audio" and is generally referred to as ATSC A/53. Television studios producing signals in compliance with this new standard must be able to deliver the signals to appropriate transmission facilities for subsequent broadcast. Such signals will make substantial bandwidth or bitrate demands on an STL, possibly driving up STL costs and complexity.
Therefore, a need exists in the art for an STL method and apparatus having a reduced level of cost and complexity.